Huge Boost for pheasants by Iowa Pheasants Forever & DNR

[Tom7227]

Plan would boost habitat

By Orlan Love

The Gazette

[email protected]

Kenny Snyder Carroll County

DES MOINES — Iowa Pheasants Forever has unveiled an ambitious plan to increase the state's pheasant and quail populations.

"Reload Iowa," the plan announced last Saturday at the group's annual meeting in Des Moines, seeks to establish and improve 1 million acres of wildlife habitat across the state.

The goal would be accomplished by hiring 50 wildlife habitat specialists — one for each two-county area in the state — to develop and deliver wildlife habitat plans for every landowner in Iowa.

"Our organization's name is truly our goal," said Steve Ries of rural Alburnett, a member of the grass roots leadership team that conceived the plan.

"We will change the landscape of Iowa," said team member Kenny Snyder of the group's Carroll County chapter.

Pheasants Forever believes individual attention from habitat specialists will encourage more landowners to take advantage of existing conservation programs.

"Our weakest link has always been marketing. We need people out there on farmers' doorsteps selling this thing," Snyder said.

A similar program in South Dakota, implemented in 2003 with just six habitat specialists, has upgraded or established wildlife habitat on more than 350,000 acres.

"South Dakota invented the wheel. We will copy it," Snyder said.

Changing agricultural practices during the past 50 years have eliminated much of the vegetation pheasants and quail need to flourish, said Tom Fuller, Pheasants Forever's Eastern Iowa regional representative. In the early 1970s, Iowa hunters harvested 1.9 million pheasants and 1.1 million quail, which compares with 632,000 pheasants and 54,000 quail last year, he said.

During the same time frame, the number of Iowa pheasant hunters declined from about 300,000 a year to 109,000 last year, Fuller said.

Iowa needs "a strategic plan to reverse those trends and bring back the glory days," he said.

Fuller said the three-year cost of the program is $11.5 million, which will be raised primarily by the organization's 105 Iowa chapters.

About $8.5 million will be allocated to pay the 50 wildlife habitat specialists, and a $3 million landowner stewardship fund will provide incentives for landowners to establish nesting and brood-rearing habitat, Fuller said.

"We want to make conservation easy and profitable for landowners," he said.

Another program goal will be to plant vegetation buffers along every stream in Iowa, yielding not only wildlife habitat but greatly improved water quality, Ries said.

"When you slow runoff with proper selection of habitat and wetlands, you will also reduce the frequency and severity of future flooding," he said.

Ries said he does not understand why government spends billions "reactively" to repair flood damage when it could "proactively" prevent much such damage, at much less cost, through the establishment of buffers, terraces and wetlands in the watersheds.

Todd Bogenschutz, who manages pheasants, quail and other upland game for the Department of Natural Resources, said the program will complement the efforts of the DNR's 10 existing private land biologists.

"It's an ambitious and necessary program that has the potential to make a significant impact," said outdoor writer and pheasant hunting expert Larry Brown of Radcliffe.

"I don't know if it can make Iowa into another South Dakota, but it will help," Brown said.

n Contact the writer: (319)-934-3172 or [email protected]

[kobear]

MN DNR, PF, and SWCD have a similar partnership where they have Farm Bill Technicians in the SWCD offices to perform the same functions. They had a Habitat Booth at Farm Fest and I believe also at the Game Fair. It has been a very successful program in MN also.

[Tom7227]

Except that many of the PF habitat specialists have been laid off due to a lack of work. Right now there are only two left in Minnesota.

[kobear]

??? You lost me there. I know East OT, West OT, Stevens, Renville, Jackson, Yellow Med, and Stearns all have PF/Farm Bill Techs still. There is still interest in CRP with all the expiring acres and the "Back Forty" Pheasant practice. If you ask me getting $100 an acre is pretty good money for your most marginal acres. Better than putting $250 into seed,fertilizer,fuel and having it flood out.

[Tom7227]

The Farm Bill techs are still there but I've been told they aren't out boots on the ground doing habitat projects like controlled burns. The Farm Bill biologists function more on the planning side of things working with landowners to ID sites, plans and funding. My read on this Iowa program is to get people out doing the actual work.

[kobear]

The Iowa program is essentially full time Farm Bill Techs provided through Pheasants Forever each will cover two counties. They have seperate Habitat Specialists that do work burning.

Some MN PF techs do custom seeding and seed sales through their associated SWCD's but no burning, insurance nightmare. All MN PF Techs are employed to assist landowners is planning, designing, funding, and executing a habitat project with the most appropriate programs.

The 2009 PF Tech program in Minnesota cost $2.25 million over two years for 25 full time PF Techs. The SWCD's contributed $810,000 from their own budgets, local PF Chapters provided matching dollars, and LCCMR provided the majority of the funding.

That's about as cheap as you can do anything! Especially considering vehicle, insurance, fuel, computer, office space, supplies, etc.

In 2007 the East Otter Tail PF Tech seeded 1600 acres of Native Prairie mixes for CRP, WHIP, EQIP, DNR, State Cost Share, and Non Cost Shared projects.

http://www.lccmr.leg.mn/RequestforProposals/2009/2009_Proposals_Oct_2008/_029-A3_Proposal.pdf

[kobear]

Seen Yesterday!

Hiring Seasonal Burn Crew Personnel

Pheasants Forever Habitat Team Based 4 miles South of Kensington MN

See in the Alexandria Echo Press Classifieds.

Could be a great entry level position with the Amendement Funding on the way.